Another strategic choice that Cox is making is that he has gone out of his way in his confirmation hearings to appear to be the most conciliatory attorney on the planet, a guy with no sharp edges and not a hint of stridency, nothing at all like a right-wing culture warrior.

The amicus briefs that he has signed reveal his true character as a right-wing culture warrior, but he knows he can’t appear that way in confirmation hearings where he must convince legislators who haven’t read the amicus briefs that his is a voice of moderation.

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In a hearing before the Senate State Affairs Committee Thursday, Cox said he didn’t know how many amicus briefs had been approved over the last seven years under Dunleavy, but it was “well over 500, maybe even over 600.”

He said that he is approving amicus briefs “relatively on pace with that same sort of trend.” Not true.

Cox signed 110 amicus briefs in his first 215 days as attorney general. That puts him at a rate of about 190 per year. Had the previous Dunleavy AG’s done this from 2019 to 2025, they would have signed about 1,330 amicus briefs.

Credit Sen. Loki Tobin for spotting Cox’s inaccurate claim and noting that he was signing amicus briefs at a rate more than twice that of Dunleavy’s previous generals.

That Cox is unwilling or unable to give a clear answer on something this simple is alarming.

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Temporary Attorney General Stephen Cox didn’t tell the straight story Thursday about the terrible judgement he and Education Commissioner Deena Bishop displayed last fall in spreading lies that officials of the Anchorage school district are teaching children not to believe in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution.

General Cox should refresh his memory about his grandstanding exercise before his next confirmation hearing Friday at 1:30 p.m.

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Any group that submits a charter school application and fills it out correctly cannot be denied approval by a locally elected school board, according to the Dunleavy administration.

I expect that every school district in the state will see this claim as an unconstitutional attack on their ability to operate public schools and serve the interests of all students.

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Temporary Attorney General Stephen Cox, the transplanted Texan who has yet to celebrate his one-year birthday as a member of the Alaska Bar Association, faces confirmation hearings this week in two Senate committees.

One of the most striking aspects of his tenure is that Cox has stamped his name on right-wing court cases from elsewhere in America every couple of days, siding with the Fox News bubble on everything from cake decorations to firing members of the Federal Reserve.

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“I have to tell you it’s the real deal. I will be shocked, shocked, not surprised, shocked if in December or January there’s anything other than we’re going to FID (final investment decision on the gas pipeline),” Gov. Mike Dunleavy told the Resource Development Council last October 16.

He must be shocked, shocked, not surprised, shocked.

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In early 2025, Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum personally selected three private fund managers in which he wanted to invest $225 million in public funds in infrastructure. He did little research and did not consult experts available to the state revenue department.

His choices to invest in unidentified infrastructure projects were DigitalBridge, Blackstone and I Squared Capital.

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It’s a good sign that Sen. Bert Stedman is planning to hold public hearings on former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum’s ill-conceived attempt to take $225 million of public funds that might be needed soon and lock it up for years.

The public has not been given a clear picture of this irresponsible action.

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Longtime Alaska Attorney John W. Wood, 79, whose confirmation by the Legislature was in serious trouble, has resigned from the Alaska Judicial Council.

There were three major reasons he was likely to be rejected by the Legislature.

First, he was convicted in 1993 of failing to file his federal income taxes in 1987. On Feb. 10, 1995, the Alaska Supreme Court publicly censured Wood as a result of his conviction.

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Former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum ignored numerous safeguards and pressed ahead with his decision to try to put $225 million into long-term investments last year, neglecting to follow the advice of the chief investment officer of the Department of Revenue.

Legislative leaders and the CIO of the revenue department told Crum that all money in the Constitutional Budget Reserve should have remained in cash or in investments that could be turned into cash quickly, but Crum went ahead anyway with the $225 million plan three days before he quit to run for governor.

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